BILL NUMBER: SB 596 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alpert
FEBRUARY 23, 1999
An act to add Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11759.20) to Part
1 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 596, as introduced, Alpert. Volunteer Mentor Partnership Act.
Existing law requires the State Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs within the Health and Welfare Agency to perform various
duties in administering programs for the prevention and treatment of
alcohol and drug abuse.
This bill would enact the Volunteer Mentor Partnership Act, under
which the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs would be the
lead agency in support of the Governor's Policy Council on Prevention
Partnerships to promote volunteer mentor programs through direct
implementation or through contracts with the private sector.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11759.20) is added
to Part 1 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER 6. CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEER MENTOR PARTNERSHIP ACT
11759.20. This chapter shall be know and may be cited as the
California Volunteer Mentor Partnership Act.
11759.21. (a) The Legislature finds that California's children
are growing up under conditions of great stress that are resulting in
devastating effects on their development and well-being. Structural
changes in society, including the breakdown in the traditional
family and erosion of neighborhood community support networks, have
taken a toll on their welfare and self-esteem. While youth struggle
with many difficulties, four risk factors stand out; academic
failure, substance abuse, involvement in the criminal justice system,
and teen pregnancy. To address these challenges, the State of
California recognizes quality mentoring as a critical prevention
strategy, not as a panacea for the aforementioned problems, but as a
cost-effective method of assisting today's at-risk youth to become
productive, contributing members of society. Research finds that
without caring, older, wiser individuals to provide support, counsel,
and role modeling, young people are much more vulnerable to the
destructive forces of apathy, abuse, and neglect. As the devastation
of adult neglect has become visible, there has been an increasing
recognition of mentoring, a service that connects a caring, older,
wiser person with a young person in need of attention and support.
During an era of limited public resources, mentoring is both
efficient and effective, relying on volunteers as the core service
providers to create collateral improvements in the lives of youth.
The public investment in the prevention strategy of mentoring has
inspired significant private support at the local level.
(b) The complexities of supporting mentoring organizations
requires the coordinated and sustained support of many private and
public sector organizations to ensure that their services are
available to all young persons who wish to have a mentor. To the
maximum extent feasible, quality mentor services should be available
in communities throughout California sufficient to meet the needs of
each at-risk young person. It is the intent of the legislature and
the purpose of this division to foster a partnership between the
public and private sector for the long-term support to quality mentor
programs.
(c) Mentoring California's youth has been carried on by thousands
of dedicated volunteers through local mentor organizations and with
the very significant contributions of the business community in both
time and money. State and local government agencies also operate
mentor programs. However, the need far outweighs the current
resources. The valuable potential services of many caring, older,
wiser individuals continue to go untapped while the waiting list of
children in need continues to grow.
11759.22. (a) It is the goal of the Legislature that every young
person in California shall have access to a quality mentor upon
request. This shall be accomplished by sustaining or growing the
state's resources under the auspices of the California Volunteer
Mentor Partnership Act, to the extent those resources are available.
The Legislature recognizes the efforts of state departments who have
supported local mentor programs under the California Mentor
Initiative, including the State Department of Alcohol and Drug
Programs, the California Conservation Corps, the California Youth
Authority, the Commission on Improving Life Through Service, the
Department of Community Services and Development, the State
Department of Education, the State Department of Health Services, the
Department of Justice, the Office of Childhood Development and
Education, and the Office of Criminal Justice Planning. This base of
support shall be sustained or increased predicated upon the
performance outcomes in successfully addressing the four risk
factors.
(b) It is also the goal of the Legislature that consideration be
directed towards identifying opportunities for increased private
sector investment in the support and expansion of mentoring.
11759.23. As used in this chapter:
(a) "At-risk youth" means in individual under 18 years of age
whose environment increases their chance of academic failure, alcohol
and other drug use, involvement in the criminal justice system, or
teen pregnancy.
(b) "Mentoring" means a relationship over a prolonged period of
time between two or more people where older, wiser, more experienced
individuals provide constant, as needed support, guidance, and
concrete help to younger at-risk persons as they go through life.
11759.24. (a) The Legislature finds that direct mentor services,
and the support for those services, are provided by hundreds of
public and private, state, and local organization. It also finds a
continuing need for effective coordination of these efforts in a
manner that will maximize benefit to local programs, and
consequently, to the youth who rely on their support.
(b) The Governor's Policy Council on Prevention Partnerships shall
be the lead coordinating body within state government, and shall be
a subcommittee of the Governor's Policy Council on Drug and Alcohol
Abuse. Its role shall be to ensure a coherent coordination of public
sector efforts to enhance quality mentoring. Because of the
critical role of mentor programs, the council shall include one
representative from Friday Night Live, one representative from a
community-based mentor program which primarily offers one-to-one
mentor-mentee matches, one representative from an academic mentor
program, and a representative from the California Mentor Foundation.
The role of the California Mentor Foundation shall be to maximize
the participation and support of the business community in California
for the expansion of mentoring.
11759.25. The Governor shall designate the State Department of
Alcohol and Drug Programs to act as the lead agency in the support of
the Governor's Policy Council on Prevention Partnerships. The lead
agency shall promote the following through direct implementation or
through contracts with qualified private sector organizations:
(a) The adoption of quality assurance standards by school- and
community-based mentor programs.
(b) The provision of mentor program technical assistance.
(c) The provision of a mentor program clearinghouse and library
service.
(d) The preparation and periodic updating of a statewide directory
of mentor program services.
(e) The provision of mentor program referrals to the general
public.
(f) The coordination of the state employee mentor recruitment
campaign.
11759.26. The Governor's Policy Council on Prevention
Partnerships shall support, promote and periodically update as
needed, standards that serve to ensure that mentor programs represent
the highest standard of quality, safety, and performance. The
quality assurance standards adopted in 1997 by the California Mentor
Coalition under the auspices of the California Mentor Initiative are
the standards in use today by the state department investors. All
state funded quality mentor programs and those funded by the state
with federal funds shall adopt the quality assurance standards.
11759.27. The Governor's Policy Council on Prevention
Partnerships shall promote a coherent strategy for directing public
support for mentor programs. Consideration shall be given to the
following in regards to the public effort:
(a) The extent of existing publicly funded services for support of
mentor programs within the state, and within each area of the state,
including the numbers and types of persons receiving services.
(b) The extent of service needs of mentor programs and the gap
between existing public and private resources available to meet those
needs.
(c) The priorities for program development or expansion which
shall take into consideration the specific objectives of programs to
be developed, amount and sources of funding, timing, and
organizations responsible for implementation.